An Algerian court convicted and sentenced to death a man considered to be the country's top terrorist and seven cohorts - all tried in absentia this week, the daily newspaper Liberte reported on Thursday. The French-language daily reported that Abdul Malek Dourkdel, who heads the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, or GSPC, was convicted Wednesday by the criminal court in Tizi Ouzou, in the Kabyle region east of the capital, where Islamic militants often operate.Under the watch of Dourkdel, who is also known as Abu Mossaad Abd Al Woudoud, the GSPC has officially become linked to Al Qaida. It is the only Islamic insurgency group in the North African nation with sufficient organisation and operational skills to continue its offensive against the government. The eight, including Dourkdel, were convicted of forming an armed group, destruction of public property with explosives and attempted theft, Liberte reported.
Algeria has not executed anyone since 1991, but the sentence would be a significant symbol of the effort, now led by security forces, to stamp out the GSPC. In September, Al Qaida's No. 2, Ayman Al Zawahri, announced the "blessed union" with the GSPC in a video posted on the internet to mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks in the US.